By monitoring ongoing actions and performance outcomes, we are able to detect errors or mismatches between our intentions or predictions. Disturbances in such performance-monitoring processes may... Show moreBy monitoring ongoing actions and performance outcomes, we are able to detect errors or mismatches between our intentions or predictions. Disturbances in such performance-monitoring processes may importantly contribute to impaired adaptive behavior in clinical disorders, such as excessively impulsive behavior in externalizing disorders or excessively rigid or careful behavior in anxiety- and obsessive-compulsive disorders. In daily life, performance monitoring often takes place in a social context, where our actions have consequences not only for ourselves, but also for others. The investigation of (alterations in) such (pro)social performance-monitoring processes may help explain functional and social impairments across a wide range of clinical disorders. In this dissertation, we used various neuroimaging paradigms to examine subclinical and neurochemical influences on performance monitoring when errors had consequences for oneself or others. The studies in this dissertation indicate that neural performance-monitoring correlates are modulated by social, subclinical, and neurochemical factors, including social (responsibility) context, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, ovarian hormones, and pharmacological manipulations of dopamine and oxytocin. These findings have implications for the potential and utility of error-related brain activity as a clinical biomarker or endophenotype, our insight into social symptoms and impairments in obsessive-compulsive disorder, and for our understanding of the neurochemical mechanisms underlying performance monitoring. Show less
In my study I looked for a plausible cognitive theoretical framework for conforming behavior. The Theory of Event Coding (TEC) was the cognitive theory that offered a good basis for building this... Show moreIn my study I looked for a plausible cognitive theoretical framework for conforming behavior. The Theory of Event Coding (TEC) was the cognitive theory that offered a good basis for building this framework. I conducted an experiment using an existing study design adopted from previous studies of conformity adding a non-social condition where participants were confronted not with what they thought were other students’ choices but with random computer choices. According to TEC, a simple confrontation with an alternative behavior would affect reproduction of your own behavior at a later stage. The study results supported my theory. Unfortunately, the results were possibly influenced by Regression to the Mean. So I changed the study design to eliminate the issue. Also I wanted to see if and how conformity was affected by culture: collectivistic versus individualistic. This study was conducted partially in the lab (in the Netherlands and China) and partially online (in the USA and India). The results confirmed my initial hypothesis: the conformity effect did not differ across all experimental groups irrespective of the country or condition suggesting that people are sensitive to intervening events, but the social nature of these intervening events is irrelevant. Show less
This thesis describes the impact of Sex Chromosome Trisomies (SCT; XXX, XXY, XYY) on early social cognition. Individuals with SCT have an increased vulnerability for developing challenges on the... Show moreThis thesis describes the impact of Sex Chromosome Trisomies (SCT; XXX, XXY, XYY) on early social cognition. Individuals with SCT have an increased vulnerability for developing challenges on the social domain, given the convergent impact of the X and Y chromosome on brain networks that underly social adaptive development. We found that already from a very early age on, SCT can be associated with increased risk for vulnerabilities in social interactions, and with increased levels of social impairments associated with ASD. These findings suggest that SCT impact the maturation of the social brain already from an early age, and stresses the importance of early routine monitoring and (preventive) support of early social development in young children with SCT. Show less
